Howard & Elizabeth Reece-Smith, Howard's mother Joyce, Ralph and Lilian Allen, and Mo Davies came to us from the excellent travel agent, Africa Exclusive. Their trip was the first of our "summer" season, and the grass was still longish and greenish after the long rains of April and May. We started our trip expeditionary camping in Lake Nakuru National Park for three nights, followed by Elsamere on the shores of Lake Naivasha for two nights, and finished with four wonderful days in the Mara, staying at Kicheche Tented Camp.

As you will see from the photos below, this was a tremendous safari, with fabulous encounters with game, both big and small. We saw wonderful rhino, leopard and lion, had a cheetah on the bonnet (hood) of the Land Rover, and saw some great bird and plant life. But perhaps the highlight of the safari was to attend the traditional wedding of my Masai Tracker, Sopia Saruni!

Mum & baby white rhino - Lake Nakuru	Big male leopard on the edge of an acacia woodland- Lake Nakuru

Enjoying life in the mobile camp - Lake Nakuru	An array of lake birds, and a photographers paradise - Lake Nakuru

Beautiful reflections, flamingos - Lake Nakuru	Ralph, Howard and Joy enjoying the lakeshore - Lake Nakuru

Around the campfire in the mobile camp - Lake Nakuru	Joy taking a closer look at some rhinos - Lake Nakuru

White rhinos in Lake Nakuru National Park	Maribou stork drinking - Lake Nakuru

Gladiolus natelensis in Nakuru (Simba escarpment)	Gloriosa Superba, or Flame Lilly - Lake Nakuru

The view over Lake Nakuru from the top of the Simba Escarpment

Wildebeest in the foreground, with Mt. Longonot behind - Crescent Island, Lake Naivasha	Mo on foot with Rothschild's giraffe - Crescent Island, Lake Naivasha

Giant kingfisher - Lake Naivasha	Young rock python asleep in the reeds - Lake Naivasha

Colobus monkeys. The one of the right hand side has a baby in its arms - they are born completely white - Lake Naivasha	Young lioness chased up a tree by two buffalos - Masai Mara

Lioness and her cubs crossing the plains - Masai Mara	Baby hippo and mum on the banks of the Mara River - Masai Mara

A large male lion - Masai Mara	A Masai herdsman and his cattle - Masai Mara

End of another day - Masai Mara	Waterbuck on the plains - Masai Mara

Masai children at the wedding of Sopia Saruni - Masai Mara	Sopia (on the left) and his best man at his wedding celebrations - Masai Mara

Sopia's new wife arriving at the wedding ceremony - Masai Mara	Old bull elephant in the Masai Mara

A close up of a female cheetah...	...close because she is perched on the bonnet (hood)!